16.09.2015, 03:10
A dissertation on roast pig

BLOG: The new season is upon us and what a start it would be without an in-sight piece from the ehfTV commentator Tom O'Brannagain.

A dissertation on roast pig

It is with great trepidation that I begin to write the first blog of the new season because I have wrestled with my feelings towards the new format since I heard about it.

I have gone backwards and forwards in my head as to why it will or might not work.  It’s not that I am not looking forward to it, on the contrary I am, but rather, the sea change in the development of the CL is worth considering and debating.

Far be it for me to over think the higher echelons of federations and clubs and what the committees believe is the best way forward, but rather to put in black and white the debate that rages throughout Europe about the new format. The pros in one corner, the antis in another, reminiscent of an old school debate, where each side develops their argument and the others counter.

The basis for the debate is the current situation in handball Europe. The haves and the have nots! Those who are functioning at the zenith of competition and the feeling that certain matches in previous incarnations of the CL format were dead rubbers to begin with.

Check the experts discussion on the new system below:

In other words, certain teams knew their fate before a ball was thrown and the element of surprise was totally eliminated from our sport. Because that is what sport should be. We go to the arenas to hope, to pray to wish for a win. Knowing it’s a foregone conclusion takes all the emotion from the equation.

The fact is that there are copious examples of this type of mismatch, from the beginning of the old format, to such an extent that the top four teams from each group was more or less known, the only issue was in which order.

There is no doubt about it that it couldn’t continue. Do you expect an arena to be full when you know the outcome of a one sided game? Do you expect media coverage of a match that doesn’t contain some mystery? The latter stages of the CL (forget about the group stages), are littered with one sided affairs, with some teams just happy to have “made it” that far.

So what about the new format? I have to admit that when I first heard about it, I equated it to “burning down the house to roast a pig”. It reminded me of a story I read a long time ago called “A dissertation on roast pig”. Written in the 19th century, by Charles Lambe, it is a humorous account of how a Chinese farmer accidently burns down his barn with all his pigs inside.

Whilst sifting through the wreckage he burns his hand on a burnt pig and puts his hand to his mouth to soothe the effect. In doing so he tastes roast pork for the first time. He tells his friends and suddenly everyone is burning down their barns to taste roast pork.

The metaphor is there for us all to see. The big clubs want revenue, the federations want media coverage. The formula is simple. Give the people what they want. Big teams playing each other from the outset, but in the end the really big teams will be at the FINAL4. We will have sifted through all the matches to get the games we knew we were going to get from the beginning.

Because when we look at the groups, we could almost guarantee the last eight, with maybe one surprise in there for good measure. Why so many games to get to that point? The doubters will say that those in groups C and D are in a second tier of CL. I would argue that they are in the CL and that all of those matches will be tight, hard fought, with no apparent easy winner. Surely this is what we wanted. The argument about the new system will come into sharp focus when the winners of these groups must go head to head against the “giants” of A and B.

But we cannot have our cake and eat it too. We cannot want dead-rubbers and yet want to see titans versus minnows. We cannot be like the hunchback who sees the humps of others and never his own. We cannot expect a seat at the high table unless it is deserved.

Handball is a sport that excites when played by equal teams regardless of their quality. It is a game that exposes frailties like no other when that equality isn’t apparent in the teams.

And for those in groups A and B, (the high table), it is well deserved for the most part. The naysayers will say that “familiarity breeds contempt”. That eventually people will tire of the same matches, week in week out. They will argue that the gap between the haves and the have nots will increase.

I prefer to say:
“Annuit Coeptis”
“Providence favours our undertaking”.

Few of us like change. We become settled in our ways. I like to think of the new format as a way of challenging clubs. To progress, to find a way, to discover new sources of revenue and new methods of achieving greatness!

What is clear is that all teams will have to have a target. Knowing that every match will be tough and knowing that for the most part your first knockout match will be just as tough lends a new dimension to an outdated format.

The fact is that the old system still led to the same old faces reaching the VELUX EHF FINAL4. Who can predict, with intense games week in, week out, what new challengers might emerge?

The fact is that handball is now at the forefront of innovation. For now, the new system is inclusive, with more teams spanning a continent involved. I’m all for it.

The old adage: “if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best”, is sharply outlined in the new format.

Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote that; “Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences”.

Let’s wait and see.

TEXT: Tom O Brannagain, ehfTV commentator